I got my blackberry wine started yesterday and today.

I've been picking and freezing blackberries for the past three weeks. The
harvest was a little bit late this year in Oregon. I had about 32 lbs. of
frozen berries but I decided to only use 25 lbs. of them since my biggest
carboy is 6 gal.

Details are as follows: 25 lbs. blackberries, thawed and mashed in an 8
gal fermenter tub. Added 8 lbs. of sugar dissolved in boiling water.
Added cool water to bring level up to 6 gal mark on side of fermenter.

Tested SG at 1.065. Waited 20 minutes and tested SG at 1.074 (important
lesson here that I learned the hard way last year! Wait for awhile and
retest the SG.) Added another 1 lb sugar dissolved in hot water. Brought
water up to 6.5 gal mark. Tested SG again at 1.08 something. Added 1/2 lb
granulated sugar and brought water up to 7 gal mark on fermenter. Waited
half hour and tested SG at 1.088. (I was shooting for 1.090 but this was
close enough)Total sugar used was 9.5 lbs.

Added 3 tsp acid blend, 3 tsp pectic enzyme, 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 6
campden tablets. Stirred and covered overnight.

Today I added 1 packet Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast. Temp of must is 69 deg. F.
Covered fermenter with cloth.

Last year's batch also started at 7 gal. on the fermenter scale and ended
up with just a little over 6 gal. of wine, making 31 bottles. But last
year I used about 12 lbs. of sugar. Keeping written records is a nice
habit when making wine!

On Aug 15, 4:39*pm, jerry > wrote:
> I got my blackberry wine started yesterday and today.
>
> I've been picking and freezing blackberries for the past three weeks. The
> harvest was a little bit late this year in Oregon. I had about 32 lbs. of
> frozen berries but I decided to only use 25 lbs. of them since my biggest
> carboy is 6 gal.
>
> Details are as follows: 25 lbs. blackberries, thawed and mashed in an 8
> gal fermenter tub. Added 8 lbs. of sugar dissolved in boiling water.
> Added cool water to bring level up to 6 gal mark on side of fermenter.
>
> Tested SG at 1.065. Waited 20 minutes and tested SG at 1.074 (important
> lesson here that I learned the hard way last year! Wait for awhile and
> retest the SG.) Added another 1 lb sugar dissolved in hot water. Brought
> water up to 6.5 gal mark. Tested SG again at 1.08 something. Added 1/2 lb
> granulated sugar and brought water up to 7 gal mark on fermenter. Waited
> half hour and tested SG at 1.088. (I was shooting for 1.090 but this was
> close enough)Total sugar used was 9.5 lbs.
>
> Added 3 tsp acid blend, 3 tsp pectic enzyme, 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 6
> campden tablets. Stirred and covered overnight.
>
> Today I added 1 packet Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast. Temp of must is 69 deg. F.
> Covered fermenter with cloth.
>
> Last year's batch also started at 7 gal. on the fermenter scale and ended
> up with just a little over 6 gal. of wine, making 31 bottles. But last
> year I used about 12 lbs. of sugar. Keeping written records is a nice
> habit when making wine!

1st 4# per gal is low ( 25# for 6 gallons)

2nd Do not just toss sugar in unless you use a hydrometer

3rd Do a TA test do not add acid blend withought it

4th consider a f-pac and backsweeten

Tom

On Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:08:37 -0700, tepe wrote:


>
> 1st 4# per gal is low ( 25# for 6 gallons)
>
> 2nd Do not just toss sugar in unless you use a hydrometer
>
> 3rd Do a TA test do not add acid blend withought it
>
> 4th consider a f-pac and backsweeten
>
> Tom

Regarding your comments: 4# of berries per gallon is the recipe I got
from the little book I'm using (Winemaker's Recipe Handbook, Raymond
Massaccesi, 1976), and it worked really well last year. I just bottled 31
bottles of last year's blackberry and it has a nice, dark color and rich
flavor, though understandably a little raw just yet. I don't see any
shortage of body in last year's wine.

I'm using the hydrometer all the time. I only tossed in a small amount of
sugar at the end because I didn't want to add more water (turns out I'll
need to do that a little later anyway). And i needed a little more SG to
reach the 1.090.

The acid blend was, again, called by the recipe I'm using. I honestly
don't know if it needs it or not. I have a pH tester and this year's
batch tested at 3.6, last year's batch was 3.2. These would be
interesting numbers if I had any indication of what a "correct" pH was
for blackberry wine. I have looked but I haven't found anything other
than a general admonition that it should be acidic.

Sugar is $2 for 4 lbs. That's probably cheaper than sweetening
conditioners.

Today I racked the must into a carboy and squeezed the pulp out. It's
only been three days but the SG was down to 1.022 already. It's been very
hot the past few days and my basement temp is slightly above 70 F, but
the primary was running about 78 F and the yeast was very active. The
book calls for racking when the must gets below 1.030. Last year it took
five days, this year three.

Now I get to wait a couple of weeks and watch the blackberry fizz in the
bottle. In the meantime, I'm thawing out the 23 lbs of cherries that I
had frozen and I'm going to start a batch of sweet cherry wine this
afternoon. I should be able to get about 4 gallons of wine from these.
Last year I only had 13 lbs and it made just a little over 2 gallons.

Thanks for the response and let me know what you're making this year.

Jerry

jerry wrote:
> I got my blackberry wine started yesterday and today.
>
> I've been picking and freezing blackberries for the past three weeks. The
> harvest was a little bit late this year in Oregon. I had about 32 lbs. of
> frozen berries but I decided to only use 25 lbs. of them since my biggest
> carboy is 6 gal.
>
> Details are as follows: 25 lbs. blackberries, thawed and mashed in an 8
> gal fermenter tub. Added 8 lbs. of sugar dissolved in boiling water.
> Added cool water to bring level up to 6 gal mark on side of fermenter.
>
> Tested SG at 1.065. Waited 20 minutes and tested SG at 1.074 (important
> lesson here that I learned the hard way last year! Wait for awhile and
> retest the SG.) Added another 1 lb sugar dissolved in hot water. Brought
> water up to 6.5 gal mark. Tested SG again at 1.08 something. Added 1/2 lb
> granulated sugar and brought water up to 7 gal mark on fermenter. Waited
> half hour and tested SG at 1.088. (I was shooting for 1.090 but this was
> close enough)Total sugar used was 9.5 lbs.
>
> Added 3 tsp acid blend, 3 tsp pectic enzyme, 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 6
> campden tablets. Stirred and covered overnight.
>
> Today I added 1 packet Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast. Temp of must is 69 deg. F.
> Covered fermenter with cloth.
>
> Last year's batch also started at 7 gal. on the fermenter scale and ended
> up with just a little over 6 gal. of wine, making 31 bottles. But last
> year I used about 12 lbs. of sugar. Keeping written records is a nice
> habit when making wine!
>

I picked my blackberries from my neighbor's plants, during a hot, dry
summer. The sugar content was still abysmal, as usual (juice SG =
1.020). I washed the berries and inserted them in a women's knee-high
nylon stocking, and proceeded to squeeze out the juice in that manner.
To the juice from 6.5 lbs of blackberries was added 1.5L of sugar and
3.3L of water. Also added the usual pectic enzyme, etc. About 1.4
gallons made it to secondary.

Two problems were experienced in turn: #1 was a hydrogen sulfide problem
from hell. As in, "Oh my God, I can't breathe down here it smells so
bad." I "fixed" it by using an aquarium pump and bubble stone, and
aerating the wine for an hour at a time (making the basement
uninhabitable). The idea is that the O2 reacts with the H2S to form SO2,
which is more apt to leave the solution. POOF! no H2S contamination anymore.

Problem #2: A final titratable acidity of 0.7%. I added KCO3 to take it
down to 0.35%, making it at least drinkable.

Final result: a thin, unremarkable berry wine with an uncomplicated nose
reminiscent of of Manischewitz. *sigh*

Your mileage may vary,
Marshall

On Aug 26, 6:26*pm, Marshall Jose > wrote:
> jerry wrote:
> > I got my blackberry wine started yesterday and today.
>
> > I've been picking and freezing blackberries for the past three weeks. The
> > harvest was a little bit late this year in Oregon. I had about 32 lbs. of
> > frozen berries but I decided to only use 25 lbs. of them since my biggest
> > carboy is 6 gal.
>
> > Details are as follows: 25 lbs. blackberries, thawed and mashed in an 8
> > gal fermenter tub. Added 8 lbs. of sugar dissolved in boiling water.
> > Added cool water to bring level up to 6 gal mark on side of fermenter.
>
> > Tested SG at 1.065. Waited 20 minutes and tested SG at 1.074 (important
> > lesson here that I learned the hard way last year! Wait for awhile and
> > retest the SG.) Added another 1 lb sugar dissolved in hot water. Brought
> > water up to 6.5 gal mark. Tested SG again at 1.08 something. Added 1/2 lb
> > granulated sugar and brought water up to 7 gal mark on fermenter. Waited
> > half hour and tested SG at 1.088. (I was shooting for 1.090 but this was
> > close enough)Total sugar used was 9.5 lbs.
>
> > Added 3 tsp acid blend, 3 tsp pectic enzyme, 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 6
> > campden tablets. Stirred and covered overnight.
>
> > Today I added 1 packet Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast. Temp of must is 69 deg. F..
> > Covered fermenter with cloth.
>
> > Last year's batch also started at 7 gal. on the fermenter scale and ended
> > up with just a little over 6 gal. of wine, making 31 bottles. But last
> > year I used about 12 lbs. of sugar. Keeping written records is a nice
> > habit when making wine!
>
> I picked my blackberries from my neighbor's plants, during a hot, dry
> summer. The sugar content was still abysmal, as usual (juice SG =
> 1.020). I washed the berries and inserted them in a women's knee-high
> nylon stocking, and proceeded to squeeze out the juice in that manner.
> To the juice from 6.5 lbs of blackberries was added 1.5L of sugar and
> 3.3L of water. Also added the usual pectic enzyme, etc. About 1.4
> gallons made it to secondary.
>
> Two problems were experienced in turn: #1 was a hydrogen sulfide problem
> from hell. As in, "Oh my God, I can't breathe down here it smells so
> bad." I "fixed" it by using an aquarium pump and bubble stone, and
> aerating the wine for an hour at a time (making the basement
> uninhabitable). The idea is that the O2 reacts with the H2S to form SO2,
> which is more apt to leave the solution. POOF! no H2S contamination anymore.
>
> Problem #2: A final titratable acidity of 0.7%. I added KCO3 to take it
> down to 0.35%, making it at least drinkable.
>
> Final result: a thin, unremarkable berry wine with an uncomplicated nose
> reminiscent of of Manischewitz. *sigh*
>
> Your mileage may vary,
> Marshall

Marshall,

You don't have any body because you only used watered down juice. All
of Jack Keller's recipes call for either fermenting with the pulp or
at least giving a "cold soak" period after pouring boiling water over
the crushed berries.

A TA of 0.35% is really low. Jack recommends a final TA of between
0.5% and 0.6% for non-grape red wines.

It wasn't necessarily supposed to be drinkable immediately. It needs
about a year to come into balance. Adding sugar would seem to be the
preferred method for "instant aging" to make something drinkable
immediately.

I'm glad your H2S remedy worked. Did you add yeast nutrient when you
started? That usually serves to prevent H2S problems.

Good luck next time.

Stephen

shbailey wrote:
> On Aug 26, 6:26 pm, Marshall Jose > wrote:
>> I picked my blackberries from my neighbor's plants, during a hot, dry
>> summer. The sugar content was still abysmal, as usual (juice SG =
>> 1.020). I washed the berries and inserted them in a women's knee-high
>> nylon stocking, and proceeded to squeeze out the juice in that manner.
>> To the juice from 6.5 lbs of blackberries was added 1.5L of sugar and
>> 3.3L of water. Also added the usual pectic enzyme, etc. About 1.4
>> gallons made it to secondary.
>>
>> Two problems were experienced in turn: #1 was a hydrogen sulfide problem
>> from hell. As in, "Oh my God, I can't breathe down here it smells so
>> bad." I "fixed" it by using an aquarium pump and bubble stone, and
>> aerating the wine for an hour at a time (making the basement
>> uninhabitable). The idea is that the O2 reacts with the H2S to form SO2,
>> which is more apt to leave the solution. POOF! no H2S contamination anymore.
>>
>> Problem #2: A final titratable acidity of 0.7%. I added KCO3 to take it
>> down to 0.35%, making it at least drinkable.
>>
>> Final result: a thin, unremarkable berry wine with an uncomplicated nose
>> reminiscent of of Manischewitz. *sigh*
>>
>> Your mileage may vary,
>> Marshall
>
> Marshall,
>
> You don't have any body because you only used watered down juice. All
> of Jack Keller's recipes call for either fermenting with the pulp or
> at least giving a "cold soak" period after pouring boiling water over
> the crushed berries.
>
> A TA of 0.35% is really low. Jack recommends a final TA of between
> 0.5% and 0.6% for non-grape red wines.
>
> It wasn't necessarily supposed to be drinkable immediately. It needs
> about a year to come into balance. Adding sugar would seem to be the
> preferred method for "instant aging" to make something drinkable
> immediately.
>
> I'm glad your H2S remedy worked. Did you add yeast nutrient when you
> started? That usually serves to prevent H2S problems.
>
> Good luck next time.
>
> Stephen

Stephen,

Sorry for the delay in responding. I'd not thought about the percentage
of berry juice. As mentioned, it was a dry year and the crop was meager,
but it never occurred to me to reduce the juice/sugar ratio.

At any rate, when I said undrinkable, I meant undrinkable, as in
straight lemon juice acidity -- this stuff made you pucker. I knew that
not even added sugar would help it, so I knocked the edge off it with KCO3.

I may still be able to acquire the multiple pounds of berries for
another shot at a gallon batch this year, so I may give it a go, and
this time I'll lay off the rehydration.

Thanks,
Marshall